Snow Falling on Sand
by Misterida
Summary: Nearly a year after the death of Lucille Tracy and the family have been recovering well. That is until a weather change brings about snow fall. Maybe they weren't as healed as they thought. Same 'verse as Heartbeats and Alone.
1. Chapter 1

New two-parter; this is set between Alone and Starlight Starbright.

Set in the Movie-Verse. Ages are: S 15, J 13, V 11, G 9, and A 4.

Disclaimer: check.

* * *

It was all dark in the big house. No one was stirring. Not even a mouse…. Well, technically that wasn't true. A little something was stirring. But it wasn't a mouse. The soft pads of little feet were the only sound in the dark pre-dawn quiet.

The owner of the little feet plodded to the French doors in the kitchen and stumbled to a stop in horror.

A scream split the silence like a brick through a window. There was a second of stillness and then the sound of several footfalls thundering towards the stairs.

John had been sleeping on Alan's bed. He and Gordon shot towards the door, before either of them had really woken up. The practically collided with Scott as he powered towards the stairs. As they barged out of the door they were almost flattened by Virgil. The four brothers continued their frantic flight towards the source of the noise.

Alan ran to meet them and threw himself into Scott's arms. The smallest Tracy was sobbing hard. He hadn't cried like this in months.

"Hey, hey buddy." Scott soothed, rubbing gentle circles on Alan's back. "What's the matter?"

Alan simply shook his head still crying uncontrollably into Scott's neck.

"Is he hurt?" Virgil asked softly, leaning forward trying to get a better look.

John had the oddest sense he knew what was wrong. Alan's shaking finger towards the door confirmed his suspicions. John walked to the door and looked over the white fields.

It had snowed over-night.

"Scott." John called softly.

Scott looked up, away from Alan and walked forward enough to glance outside.

"Oh."

"Oh?" Repeated Gordon walking forward. "Snow!" He exclaimed in delight.

"No!"

Scott, John and Gordon turned, surprised by Virgil's outcry. Scott and John exchanged a look and then silently John took Alan from the eldest Tracy son.

Virgil had gone whiter than the snow outside and was shaking his head back and forth.

"No… No. I'm not…. I don't…"

With this articulation out of the way, Virgil turned tail and ran back up the stairs. Scott looked at John who nodded as he gently bounced the still crying Alan. Scott got to the top of the stairs just as Virgil slammed his door shut. Scott gently knocked on Virgil's door. There was no answer but Scott could hear Virgil's sobs. Scott gently pushed the door open.

"Virge?"

Again Virgil didn't answer. Scott quietly walked into the room and sat down on the bed, next to where Virgil was curled up under the duvet. Scott rubbed Virgil's back but didn't speak.

He knew that Virgil was still having nightmares about the event's that had happened just over a year ago, but they did not really talk about it. Scott and John had expected this sort of reaction from Alan when it snowed again but had not considered Virgil reacting a similar way.

By the time Alan had been released from the hospital following the avalanche, the snow had already melted and been washed away. Virgil, however, had stayed in the house for several weeks with the snowed piled high outside. Although, now that Scott thought about it, he couldn't remember Virgil willingly leaving the house during those weeks.

Slowly, Virgil wiggled out from under the duvet and into Scott's arms. Still neither of them spoke. They sat for several long minutes in a silence that only got heavier, until Scott knew that he had to say something.

"It's okay to be scared, Virge."

Virgil wiped his eyes furiously. He then took a deep breath.

"I don't want to lose them." Virgil said eventually.

"Lose who?" Scott said, although he had a pretty good idea who Virgil was referring to.

"Gords and Allie." Virgil said. He sat up straighter. "How do you do it Scott? I can't protect them, but I want to. I want to so badly."

Scott was almost lost for words. Virgil had hit the nail on the head exactly. Scott knew full well that he couldn't protect his brothers from everything in the same way that it killed him that he couldn't make this all better. He knew that John still suffered with what he had seen, Virgil was clearly the same, Gordon was saved from seeing anything but still suffered in that he didn't help, and suffered in watching his only little brother suffer. Alan had slowly been improving. Jeff's presence alone had helped, as had Alan's weekly visits with the recommended child psychologist.

Although certainly not the little chatter box he had been before the accident Alan had started speaking more, and his nightmares didn't seem as bad. He was still getting up in the night but it was normally only once a night, rather than several times, and he was not quite the limpet he had been. Already Scott was worried how the snow would affect all of his brothers but particularly the youngest Tracy, and now Virgil too.

Eventually Scott was able to coerce Virgil from his room and got his brothers in some semblance of order at the breakfast table. Virgil was sat with Alan in his lap. The eleven year old had recently had a growth spurt and was now more able to carry around his four year old brother than he had been previously. Alan for his part didn't require as much physical comfort has he had done previously but on this morning seemed quite content to sit curled up in the middle Tracy's lap. His thumb was back in his mouth and his ear was over Virgil's heart.

"Did he say anything?" Scott asked John anxiously.

John had decided that pancakes were in order and was slaving away over the stove. Scott quietly asked his question as he leant around John to get some plates.

"No. Nothing, not even when I asked him if he wanted pancakes." John said worriedly, his eyes glancing at the littlest Tracy and back to the frying pan. "He was back to hand signals."

Scott nodded and continued laying the table. He had feared this. After Alan's first assessment with the psychologist he had sat the rest of the family down and explained what might happen with the smallest Tracy son. Flashbacks and reverting behaviour were the two that had been considered most likely.

Breakfast was a quiet affair with hardly any conversation. Virgil was mostly silent too, except for trying to get Alan to eat. It was unsuccessful. Gordon was completely subdued and John and Scott both increasingly worried.

The five boys were sat on the sofa attempting to watch a film. They were failing. All were too wrapped up watching Alan who was now sniffling pitifully with his ear still listening to Virgil's heart beating.

"Boys?"

Jeff's voice and the slamming of the front door made the four older boys all jump. Grandma Tracy had gone back to see some friends near her old home and Jeff had gone this morning to pick her up and bring her back to the family home. In their concern the boys hadn't even really noticed the absence of their father. It seemed Alan wasn't the only one reverting back to old behaviour.

Jeff walked into the living room rubbing his hands together trying to warm them.

"Phwoar! It is cold out there this morning. The snow doesn't seem to be letting up either. Your grandmother is putting on some hot chocolate, would any - what's the matter?"

Jeff broke off mid-sentence looking at his children. Alan and Virgil were as white as sheets and the three others were watching them anxiously. Jeff dropped to his knees in front of Virgil and Alan.

"Boys, what is it? What's the matter?"

Virgil simply shook his head and Alan, for his part, simply buried his head further into Virgil's chest.

Jeff looked in askance to Scott.

"You know, hot chocolate sounds good." Scott said his voice sounding overly cheery even to him. "Johnny, do you want to come and give me a hand?" Scott's eyes drilled into John's before looking back at his father.

"Yeah, sure Scotty." Johnny said hauling himself to feet.

In the kitchen and in hushed tones Scott and Johnny explained the events of the morning. Within half an hour the harried Dr Rackham, the child psychologist, was knocking at the door. Jeff eagerly welcomed him in.

"Oh it certainly is no problem." Dr Rackham said as he removed his coat and tried to fend off the frantic attempts of Grandma Tracy's hospitality - when crisis strikes feed it until it leaves!

Dr Rackham took Alan up to Jeff's office where the two of them were occupied for almost two hours. The other Tracy sons were in a frenzy during that time. Scott didn't settle at all, but wandered… paced the entire time with a certain amount of harassing his younger brothers. John withdrew to "The Observatory", a small room in the basement, with Gordon in tow. They flicked on the planetarium that projected the stars and planets onto the ceiling. Virgil for his part didn't really settle exactly either. The middle Tracy son darted back and forth between his music and his art.

All the Tracy sons were so relieved and flocked around the youngest Tracy son when he and Dr Rackham came back downstairs. Dr Rackham directed Jeff and Josie to the kitchen and allowed the older boys a moment with the youngest. Dr Rackham peaceably accepted the coffee and cake thrust at him desperately by Grandma Tracy and the three adults sat down for a serious discussion.

"I have to be frank, Mr Tracy, that I had anticipated something like this. Not to this extent perhaps but it is normal for children of trauma to be set back when faced with reminders of that trauma."

"Will this affect him for the rest of his life?" Asked Jeff, pulling his bottom lip between his teeth.

The doctor pushed his glasses further up his nose.

"That I cannot say. Yet. It is a possibility yes, but there is still much ground Alan and I need to cover before I could give that sort of a prognosis. I am more concerned at this point of the short term affects that this have."

"What do you mean?" Queried Grandma Tracy softly as she subtly pushed another muffin on to Dr Rackham's plate.

"Alan is at a turning point in his recovery. This weather change worries me; the setback for a one off event is relatively small but a whole seasons' worth of this weather could be incredibly damaging and the effect on Alan may leave us in a situation worse than when I first met with you."

Jeff sat back in his chair fiddling with his coffee cup.

"What exactly are you suggesting Doctor?"

"It's not exactly a solution nor is it ideal but at least for now I would suggest that you take Alan somewhere with a different climate. It wouldn't work for the long term, but children develop so rapidly in these early years that next year we could tackle this in a very different way. At the moment there is only fear and that is very hard to work with. I will have to start researching what we can do; I have never had a case quite as severe as Alan's but I think-"

"Wait just a minute, stop." Jeff interrupted sitting upright abruptly. "You think moving Alan away from this climate might help?"

"Yes, as extreme as it might be; at the moment that would be the best for Alan. I appreciate it's not really generally possible but… why are you smiling?"

Jeff and Grandma Tracy had turned to each other with raised eyebrows and quirking smiles.

"Dr Rackham, a couple of years ago I bought a research facility for experimental developments in rocket propulsions systems. That project has now finished and the research facility abandoned for the time being."

"What does that have to do with this?" Dr Rackham asked slowly.

"It's on an Island. In the Pacific Ocean."

"That could work. That could work quite nicely indeed."

* * *

_And so it begins._

_Please leave me a review with any feedback; it would be greatly appreciated._


	2. Chapter 2

_Part Two._

_Sorry for the long wait - (as I mentioned in the latest Butterflies update) although the second part of this was mostly done I had the disaster of all writers; my computer upped and died. Happily, I habitually, and with much paranoia, back up my hard drive on a near weekly basis. As it was I didn't lose too much but it was a long wait to save up for another computer. But here we are, and please enjoy!_

_Also, sorry I unintentionally lied, when I initially planned this out it was going to be a Two Parter but it ran off and made a third part without letting me know. Part Three is well in hand and should be ready of uploading in June (if I stick with the writing schedule)._

_Disclaimer: Disclaimed._

* * *

"So let me get this straight," Said Scott twenty minutes later. "You own an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and you want to take Alan there for the rest of the winter?"

The doctor had left shortly after further discussions regarding a short-term relocation to somewhere much warmer. Jeff had called his two eldest sons in to let them know the doctor's recommendation.

"Well it sounds crazy when you put it like that." Said Jeff.

"Moving to an Island in the middle of the South Pacific sounds crazy no matter how you phrase it." Said John wryly.

"And you have to admit, that even for you, it's pretty out there." Said Scott.

"Even for me?" Jeff repeated with a wounded look on his face. "You do have a way with diplomacy, Scooter. You get that from your mother."

"You do know that we can't come with you, right dad?" Said Scott seriously. "I've still got finals, and John has been waiting for his slot at the observatory for months."

"I know boys, that's why your Grandmother is going to stay here with you and I will be taking the three boys with me."

"How long are you planning on staying there?" John asked.

"Probably three months, maybe more." Said Jeff.

"What about school?" Scott said.

"What about the business?" John said at almost the same time.

"I am already looking into distance learning for Virgil and Gordon. Alan, I have a plan for, but I need to consider it more before I go ahead. As far as the business is concerned, most of it can be done remotely, the rest - well, what's the point of being the boss if you can't take some time off when your family needs it?" He said with a smile.

* * *

The move went smoother than Jeff had hoped. Virgil was delighted to be going, Gordon was so carefree that location was never an issue and Alan was surprisingly accepting about being separated from his two eldest siblings.

Jeff bundled the three younger boys with all their summer clothing, and one child psychologist, into the second of their private jets and embarked on the thirteen hour flight to the remote island.

Alan slept for most of the journey, thanks to a mild relaxant provided by Dr Rackham. For all their genius planning, neither adult had thought through flying a water-phobic child over a whole ocean; needless to say that part of their plan had not been well received.

The two middle children quickly overcame their younger sibling's distress, once sleep was achieved, and spend the remainder of the flight pressed against the windows.

They touched down around mid afternoon and were greeted by a tall man with blue spectacles.

"Boys, this is Brains." Jeff introduced his sons. "He was the chief scientist on the rocket project and is doing some further research here for the time being."

Brains very shyly introduced himself and shook each of the boys hands, even Alan's who was curled up in Jeff's arms, much to Jeff's amusement.

"Now boys, please stay out of Brains' work areas and listen to him as you would me. Understand?"

Virgil and Gordon nodded furiously. Alan yawned and started fiddling with the buttons on Jeff's shirt.

"Okay, how do you boys feel about some exploring?" Jeff said to enthusiastic cheers.

He lead them round showing them different points of interest within the house and the immediate area around it.

"I know its not much to look at the moment," Jeff began.

"Dad it looks like a youth hostel!" Virgil said with a laugh.

Jeff chuckled, "I'm not saying that you're wrong, all I am saying is that at one time there were 240-odd scientists living here and quarters were cramped. There will be some workmen coming in and out over the next few weeks and we will make it feel a bit more homely, okay?"

The four family members explored until dinner time, at which point they discovered how sorely they would miss John. At least, Gordon pointed out, as they ate sandwiches, they knew that both the fire alarm and extinguishers all functioned properly.

After dinner Jeff vid-phoned the eldest two Tracy boys who would be getting ready for the day.

Gordon and Virgil excitedly informed their brothers all that they were missing out on. Alan remained quiet and still for most of the call but would occasionally sign to his brothers if he thought that they were missing something out.

"You still not speaking huh, Sprout?" Scott asked.

Alan shrugged and wiggled his hand from side to side in a 'so so' gesture.

"And what do you think of the weather?" Asked John gently.

A thumbs up was returned.

"And what are you going to do tomorrow?" Scott asked.

Alan pointed to his two present brothers and then whirled his arms over head, left then right.

"Swimming?" Said Scott in surprise. "What will you be doing instead?"

Alan covered his face and all of the Tracy boys laughed.

"Hiding isn't an acceptable alternative, kiddo." John said still chuckling.

Alan pouted and then sighed. He then pointed at his eye and then at the laptop screen.

"You wanna see us?" Scott asked.

Alan nodded.

Jeff exchanged a glance with his two eldest sons and then crouched down so that he could look his youngest son in the eye.

"You can't talk to Scooter and Johnny tomorrow when Virge and Gordon are swimming because it will be the middle of the night back in Kansas. But," Jeff continued quickly seeing the storm clouds brewing on Alan's little face. "Dr Rackham has agreed to spend some time with you tomorrow while you're brothers are swimming; why don't you have a think about what you would like to do instead?"

Alan perked up considerably and nodded almost cheerfully.

The two eldest Tracy boys said their goodbyes as both had to get on with their days.

"We'll speak to you guys tomorrow!" Scott said cheerfully before ending the call.

He wasn't exactly wrong. It just wasn't his tomorrow.

* * *

"Sorry to bother you, Scott." Said Jeff running his hand down his face tiredly. "He has been seriously working himself up to this for a couple of hours, and its now starting to get to the other two as well."

"Dad, honestly, I don't mind." Scott said. "I would be more bothered if you didn't phone."

"Okay, well let me go and get him. We were worried if we called you with him in the room and you didn't answer, that it would only make him worse."

"Probably." Scott agreed sombrely as Jeff hurried out of the room. He tried phoning John again. "Come on, come on, pick up Johnny, dammit." He hung up when the call when through to voicemail again. "Come on, what do space cases do during the day?"

"They hide 'cause they're vampires." Said Gordon wearily as he sidled in to the room.

"How you doing, Gords?" Scott asked gently.

Gordon just shrugged looking at his feet.

"Come on, buddy, talk to me." Scott pleaded.

"I just thought that he'd get better here." Gordon said quietly.

"Its only been one day, Fishy." Said Virgil as he walked in carry two mugs of hot chocolate. "Dr Rackham told us that he is certain that Allie _will_ get better, once-" he looked at Scott and broke off.

"Once, what Virgil?" Scott pushed.

"Once you and John get here." Said Gordon taking his mug from Virgil as the two middle Tracy sons avoided looking at each other as well as Scott.

Scott pulled a pained face as he tried to reach John again.

They could hear the youngest Tracy son well before Jeff carried him into the room.

The youngest Tracy was sobbing heavily, his small face bright red and creased from the strength of his anguish.

Jeff's face was twisted in sorrow just looking at his suffering youngest child.

As soon as Alan saw his eldest brother he threw himself at the computer slamming his hands on to the screen. There was a second of incomprehension when he couldn't reach Scott.

Scott had held his hand out to the screen as well as though he too wanted to reach through to his sibling.

"Hey, come on Allie buddy, everything is okay… shhh come on now, ssshhhhh." Scott soothed gently with his hand pressed flat against the screen.

Scott gently tried to talk his youngest sibling down with plenty of support and assistance from Jeff, Virgil, Gordon and even Dr Rackham.

Scott was starting to despair when he heard the front door slam and his first younger brother call out a welcome.

Scott turned away from the monitor to call out to his brother but as soon as he turned his face away Alan started screaming once more in earnest fearing that his brother was leaving him again.

Scott whipped back to face the screen to try to sooth his brother and heard John hit the stairs at a flat sprint.

"Scott? Scott, where are you? Answer me dammit!" John shouted as he raced through the second floor trying to source the noise he'd heard.

"Scott! Why the hell didn't you answer me, man?" John said as he entered the room. "Oh."

John stopped just behind Scott and bobbed down so that he could be seen through the camera as well.

"Hey buddy, whats the matter?" John said softly and soothingly to a nearly inconsolable Alan. "How long's this been going on for?" John asked Scott in a soft aside.

"I've been trying to calm him down for like twenty minutes, but Dad said that he'd been like this for a couple of hours."

John turned his attached back to the camera.

"Hey buddy, I have something that might help but it's in my room, so I'm going to run and get it and then come right back. Okay?"

John waited for Alan to nod back although he was still pawing at the computer screen.

Ten seconds later and John was skidding back in to the room, carrying a cardboard box that had wires sticking out.

"So Alan, you know how Scott in particular likes to tease me about having a plan for everything?"John said cheerfully, hoping that a normal tone as well as a healthy dose of curiosity might help his youngest brother more than a soothing tone. "Well, I think that because of that Scott should get to go first at trying out my new experiment. What do you think?"

Alan sniffing and rubbing at his nose lent forward to try and get a better look in to the box. He looked up at John's face and nodded. John took this as a good sign and tried to ignore the tears that were still sliding down Alan's tiny face.

"I'm glad that you agree. Scott, shirt off."

Scott blinked at the non-sequitur and looked from the screen to John's slightly maniacal smile. Hearing a small abrupt giggle Scott looked back at the screen. There was a hint of amusement on the youngest Tracy's face and that was enough of an encouragement for Scott and, with a long suffering sigh, he removed his shirt.

"The things I do for you guys," Scott said to the cheering of the middle Tracy's who were mocking him light heartedly.

John lifted from the box, a lot of wires, a small TV screen and a black plastic cube.

"See, Allie, I was real stumped about my end of year presentation for Electronics, and as President of the Electronics club it needed to be a knock out." John said as he started to connect the wires between the cube the TV. "And then one night, I had a sudden inspiration, and at the time I did think about its other uses, I mean medically speaking, I think that perhaps its applications are limited and-"

"Johnny,"Scott cut in grinning, "One, don't forget to breathe and secondly, you're gonna send your younger audience to sleep if you keep up the techno babble."

John glanced from the wires he was lent over to the computer screen where Virgil and Gordon were pretending to snore. Loudly. Allie, however, looked torn between wanting to laugh and start crying again.

"Sorry Allie," John replied sincerely crouching slightly to look more directly at his youngest brother. "The basics of it, was that I had an idea that thought might come in handy for us. Now, this is still being tested okay, so it might take a couple of minutes to set up. While I do that, how about you tell us what we should do once Scott and I come to join you?"

Scott tried to keep a dialogue with his youngest three brothers whilst trying to keep an eye on his sneaky first younger brother.

John had finished connecting the cube and the TV and was now working to connect more wires from the cube to a set of sensors. Once he was done tinkering he turned to Scott with the sensors and a Joker sized grin.

"Are you planning on killing Batman?" Asked Virgil laughing at the nervous look on Scott's face.

"I just might be." John replied laughing along with the others.

He stuck the three sensors to Scott's chest.

"Johnny…" Scott whined anxiously.

"All in good time, Scooter." John said turning back to the cube.

After a few seconds of fiddling John turned the television on and brought it and the cube closer to the camera.

"Can you see, Allie?" He asked moving the telly in Alan's direction.

There was a moment of silence.

"Well, I'll be." Said Jeff.

John had rigged up a home made heart sensor. Scott heartbeat showed on the screen, one green line beeping up and down.

"That's awesome, John." Scott said proudly watching the tears on Alan's face slow and the tension leave his frame.

"Psychologically speaking, John, this would have an interesting application." Dr Rackham said. "If you struggle to find any interest in this, I mean it would probably need some more work to make it feasible, but I would be happy to help you forward this."

"Thank you." John replied surprised, looking down at the mess of wires. "I hadn't really even thought that far ahead I just had a funny feeling that we might need something like this at some point."

"I don't mean to rain on the parade on anything," Said Virgil slowly staring at Alan. "It's helping now, but what about when we hang up?"

"I'm already one step ahead of you there, Virge." John said with a light smile. It comes with an app. I already installed it on the iPad before you left."

Everyone laughed.

"You know we don't like it when you act like life is a chess board, space case." Said Scott still laughing.

John maturely stuck his tongue out at his older brother in lieu of a reply.

Before this had a chance to escalate there was a light knocking sound. They looked down at the youngest Tracy who was patting the table to get attention.

"What's up, Allie?" Said Scott with a fond smile.

Alan pointed at the tv screen and then to John.

John quickly pulled out a second set of sensors, wired them up to the cube and attached them to his own chest. A second heart line appeared below the first.

While Alan was watching John work, Jeff silently backed out of the room and went to get the iPad.

Once Alan was silently watching the small monitor screen, tears now ceased, John walked Jeff through the app.

Jeff handed the iPad to Alan, who accepted it with a small smile that bordered on cheery.

They sat there for several longer minutes as the four oldest Tracy boys chatted and teased each other.

Scott looked down at his youngest brother and fell silent.

"Awwww," John breathed noticing where Scott was looking.

Whilst they had been talking the youngest Tracy had slipped into sleep. His chin had lolled forward against his chest and he was snuffling slightly from the long crying jag. His grip on the iPad was still tight.

"I appreciate that this is hardly transportable," Said John gesturing to wires as he turned the tv off. "But, I've already started work on something that would be. I should be able to get it up and running by the end of today and then it is just a matter off adding it to the app."

"I don't know what we'd do without you, John, I really don't." Said Jeff gratefully as he gently lifted Alan off of the desk.

"Well we'd starve for starters." Gordon said cheekily.

Scott and John hung up on the laughter as Virgil clipped Gordon round the back of the head on behalf of Jeff who had his arms too full to do it himself.

* * *

_Thanks again for taking the time to read. Any reviews would be very welcomed._


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